falloutfanonfandomcom-20200222-history
Jennifer Chou
Jennifer Chou (nee Alexis Jennifer Madison) is a freelance mercenary and bounty hunter of Taiwanese-American descent. Originally hailing from the New California Republic, Jennifer once served as a Ranger with the NCR military and has fought across the wastelands against raiders, tribals and super mutants, as well as the likes of Caesar's Legion and the Brotherhood of Steel. Presently, Jennifer is active in the town of Salvation, to sell her skills as a mercenary; skills that any wealthy, successful 'legitimate' businessman would always be in the need for. The young mercenary is in Salvation for her own reasons, however. Reasons that she prefers to keep to herself, at least until when the perfect time comes for her to strike. And then she will reap the profits when all the dust and blood settles and everybody that needs killing is dead. Biography Early Life Jennifer Chou was born Alexis Jennifer Madison on September 24, 2260, the eldest daughter of Arliss Madison, a wealthy Brahmin Baron who owned a large ranch not far from Shady Sands, capital of the New California Republic, and Chou Mei-Yun, a former Shi from the city of San Francisco. Unlike the vast majority of those living in Post-Nuclear America, Jennifer did not spend her childhood living in poverty. The Madison family was incredibly wealthy, having run a successful Brahmin ranch for the better part of fifty years. However, like many of the Brahmin Barons in the NCR, Jennifer's ancestors got their family to where it was through means that many consider underhanded, although some would argue that it was simply good business practice in a harsh world. Jennifer's early life was a comfortable one, completely protected from the outside world and the likes of raiders and mutants. Not that either was much of a problem within the territory of the NCR, especially so close to the capital. But Jennifer's life was also a lonely one. Her parents were often away on business, either at The Hub or in Shady Sands, or visiting the neighbouring settlements and ranches nearby. As a result, Jennifer was raised more by nannies and around fifty of the ranch's hands and armed guards, than her own parents. While she was spoiled like a princess who wanted for nothing, Jennifer learned from an early age that her life of wealth and comfort was a gilded cage. She was seldom allowed to travel beyond the safety of the ranch without an armed escort, and she was often discouraged from doing anything that was considered 'beneath her.' One of the hands who worked for her father once tried to teach her how to shoot a gun, at her request, and for his trouble her father and mother had him flogged and then dismissed from the ranch as soon as he discovered what she was doing. For all the guilt that the young Jennifer felt when that poor ranch hand was flogged then fired, she felt just as angry with her parents because they never allowed her to do anything that--in her eyes--was actually worth doing. Since then, Jennifer has developed a reputation among her household for being a rebel, going against her parents' wishes and finding new ways to subvert their authority. While they were away on business, she would often sneak away from the safety of the ranch to see what she could discover beyond her parents' walls. In late 2276, not long after Jennifer turned sixteen years old, an opportunity for change presented itself, although her mother and father had plans of their own for their daughter. Arranged Marriage In 2276, her father and mother decided that Jennifer had finally come to the age that she be married to the son of one of his business partners, as had been arranged for her since before she was born. She had met her intended only once; George Hartfeld was a handsome enough young man, but Jennifer found him to be quite unpleasant to be around. She also found the idea of bearing his children repulsive, for in truth the young Jennifer was more interested in her husband-to-be’s sister than she was in him. Julia Hartfeld, the older sister of Jennifer’s betrothed, happened to reciprocate that interest and seduced her. Their brief affair lasted only a single night, but Jennifer was appreciative of it, nonetheless. Disinclined toward her arranged marriage, Jennifer directly confronted her parents about her feelings and her decision not to proceed with her planned life. Their response was at first to reason with her, explaining to her all the benefits of going along with the marriage. Then they tried to remind Jennifer of her obligations to her family, that it was her duty to do as she was told. Then, in an effort to get their daughter to change her mind, Arliss and Mei-Yun threatened to disown her if she didn’t marry George Hartfeld, even after Jennifer told them that she preferred the company of her gender. Tired of the back talk from his daughter, Arliss slapped Jennifer across the face and told her in no uncertain terms that she’ll do as she was told, that she’ll ‘marry a fucking super mutant if he told her to.’ Jennifer’s response was to tell her parents that if they were going to disown her for not wanting to live the life they had laid out for her, then that they should get it over with. Jennifer left the ranch not soon after. Although later in life she would come to regret not having a more amicable parting between herself and her parents. Living in Exile Cast out into the post-nuclear sands of New California, Jennifer found that being alone in the desert was harder than she had ever imagined it to be. She no longer had the safety of the ranch, no longer had the protection of her father’s armed guards and she had no useful skills to fall back on. There were even one or two times when she’d contemplate going back and marrying whoever her parents wanted, including the super mutant, and resign herself to whatever life they wanted her to live if it meant a warm bed and food in her stomach. But her pride always won out, even when night fell and her attempts to build a fire failed miserably. By all rights, Jennifer should have died in the desert that first night out in the cold. But instead, through anger and a fierce determination to prove herself and live a life free of being told how to live it she endured the elements and, by some minor miracle, manage to find her way to Shady Sands, capital of the New California Republic. To distance herself from the family that disowned her, Jennifer chose to go by a new name. No longer was she Alexis Jennifer Madison, but now Jennifer Chou (after her mother’s family), from The Hub if anybody asked. After she spent the first couple of hours in the city, Jennifer eventually realised that she had no idea what to do with herself. As luck would have it, after another hour of wandering the streets of Shady Sands, Jennifer came across the local NCR recruitment office. The recruiters spent most of their sales pitch spewing lines about patriotism and promises of adventure, and Jennifer was smart enough to see their words for what they really were: a sales pitch. She had seen enough of them at her family’s ranch. Regardless, while Jennifer wasn’t taken in by the recruiters’ pretty speeches, there was something that Jennifer found appealing when she took in the recruitment posters on the walls, and there was one poster in particular truly spoke to her. It was a picture of group of women, clad in the patrol armour and uniform of NCR Rangers, poised ready for battle. “These are no DAMES,” said the printed poster in big blue lettering, “These are RANGERS. Enlist in the NCR Rangers today, ladies, and be part of a PROUD TRADITION!” She lied about her age and signed up for the NCR Rangers that very moment. Ranger Chou, and Recruitment into Noble Squad In stark contrast to the basic training of most NCR Troopers, where the drill instructors were more or less tasked with making sure the recruits knew which end to hold their rifles and not to blow themselves up, Jennifer's time training as an NCR Ranger was as difficult and gruelling as it could be. Indeed, training to be a Ranger was among the hardest times in her young life. Of all the trainees, 80% of them did not manage to finish and dropped out, but Jennifer was proud to count herself among those who remained. After she graduated from boot camp and sent to Ranger training, Jennifer learned real combat techniques. She learned how to operate in the shadows, how to kill through stealth and how to pick a man's head clean off at long range. But most importantly, she learned how to endure anything the wasteland could ever throw at her. The NCR turned her from a spoiled princess, a Brahmin Baron's daughter, into a true survivor. When Jennifer completed her training in mid 2277, earning her badge and the right to call herself an Ranger, she was sent out into the Mojave Wasteland, to patrol and protect NCR-occupied territory from its enemies. Throughout her career, Jennifer distinguished herself as a Patrol Ranger, supporting troops tasked with rooting out tribes of Fiends and gangs of Great Khans, or supporting the troops from behind enemy lines. During one mission, Jennifer and another Ranger was assigned to assist a squad from the NCR 1st Reconnaissance Battalion (or 1st Recon), with the goal of disrupting the Brotherhood of Steel's operations within the Mojave. While the task was a difficult one, Ranger Chou and 1st Recon were up to the task, and by the time they returned to base they did so with an impressive body count. Jennifer had even killed a Paladin in full power armour, a feat she was immensely proud of. By 2280, Jennifer was already an accomplished Ranger for the NCR. Her prowess as a soldier caught the attention of Senator Eileen Midthunder, a hawkish politician and an ally of President Aaron Kimball, who advocated further expansion of the NCR, following the defeat of Ceasar's Legion and the pacification of the Mojave. The Senator had pulled some strings with her connections in the military, and was looking to recruit men and women with a particular set of skills for a new special operations initiative, laid out in the hopes of ending the NCR's troubles in the wasteland. When she was eventually approached at Camp McCarran, Jennifer had a few misgivings about this 'Noble Squad' of the Senator's--she saw Midthunder's sales pitch exactly for what it was--but in the end she did admit that she found the idea of going home that much sooner very appealing. By that time, the New California Republic was already fighting wars against several factions; Caesar's Legion, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Fiends and Great Khans and so on. If there was even a chance that Midthunder's Noble Squad initiative could do as the Senator was selling, then she would have wanted to see it happen. Far-from-Noble Squad On November 2280, Ranger Chou was ordered to report to an NCR safehouse northwest of Black Mountain to receive her first assignment with Noble Squad. It was here where she met with the squad's other members: Captain Joseph Spears, Noble Squad's commanding officer. Corporal Sasha Rodriguez, who was transferred to Noble from the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion to serve as their sniper. Ranger Singer (no first name) was once a member of the Great Khans before the massacre at Bitter Springs allowed him to defect and become a newly-minted Ranger. He was the rookie of the group, but it was his talents with demolitions and tracking that led him to Noble Squad. They also met their handler, a man who only went by the name of 'Kodiak.' It was through him that Noble Squad received their orders from Senator Midthunder. It was obvious that Kodiak was some kind of spook, but everyone in Noble Squad was aware of its clandestine nature: the Legion had its Frumentarii, and the NCR had them. Or at least that was the idea. Their first assignment was to eliminate a squad of what Kodiak described as Noble's 'counterparts' in the Legion, an assassination outfit that had been roaming the Mojave and slitting the throats of the NCR's patrols. It did not take long until Singer had tracked them down, as soon as they had a lead to go by. Noble Squad managed to ambush the Legion assassins as they passed through a valley, catching them unawares before they picked them off one by one. Their first mission was a success. Noble Squad had many missions such as that one: eliminate a Brotherhood Paladin, wipe out a gang of Fiends threatening the trade routes, kill a Centurion or two. In the weeks that passed and with every mission they came home from successful, the true nature of Noble Squad's purpose became apparent: they were a hit squad. Betrayed The use of hit squads was nothing new for the New California Republic. Jennifer had known a few Rangers who had the dubious distinction of serving in one at one time or another, and, at least as some would argue, a Ranger was partly an assassin anyway. The realisation that she had been recruited into an NCR death squad was nothing that particularly bothered Jennifer. It might have done, back when she was younger and more naive, but her time in the Mojave Wasteland, the terrible things she had the misfortune to see, had long proven to her that some people just deserved to die. The only thing that did unsettle Jennifer was that this particular hit squad was not officially authorised by the military, but was rather under the direct authority of an NCR Senator; to be used, as Kodiak would eventually put it, as her 'personal grim reapers.' Singer did not care one way or the other, but the true nature of Noble hit Rodriguez and Captain Spears the hardest. They thought they were making a difference. Regardless, the decision was made among them that Noble Squad would continue as it was, and it was something that Jennifer would eventually come to regret. As would the rest of Noble. In the months that followed, Kodiak gave the team new missions to carry out; new targets to eliminate. Their victims ranged from tribal leaders, to influential Legion officers and Brotherhood Paladins, each hit carried out without question. And then the targets became officers in the NCR. Kodiak assured them that they were Legion spies, Frumentarii in NCR uniform with directives to sabotage the NCR's ability to wage war however they could. No matter how the spook sold it, it was still a cold comfort to what it was they were doing. Eventually, the assassinations gave way to capturing people alive and making them disappear, then to torturing their captives and even turning their attention toward civilian targets. The hit squad became a black ops outfit in more ways than one. Whenever she could, Jennifer spent a lot of time on the Strip, finding comfort in the arms of whores while she tried to assure herself that the cost to her soul would eventually pay off in the end. What they did, all the killing and torturing, would end the many wars her country were fighting in. Then everyone could finally go home to their families and their loved ones. Thinking back to the ranch where she grew up and her parents, Jennifer reminded herself that despite their not-so-amicable parting she very much wanted to see them again, after all these years. She only hoped that she didn't become an empty shell by the time that happened. Jennifer was drinking her sorrows away with Singer in a Freeside bar when they were approached by Spears and Rodriguez. The Captain had been performing an investigation over the past few weeks, under Kodiak's nose, and he had discovered something that truly troubled the young woman: the civilians that Noble Squad was ordered to capture, torture and then 'disappear' were all connected to Senator Midthunder in some way or another. These were not Frumentarii in disguise but rather men and women of influence, anti-war advocates, and some were even said to be Eileen Midthunder's personal enemies. Not only that, but even the so-called NCR officers they were ordered to eliminate were not Legion spies, but rather the genuine deal, who were making investigations of their own into Noble Squad. Jennifer was truly appalled. What Kodiak said about Noble Squad being the Senator's personal grim reapers was truer than even she thought. She thought she could console herself with the promise that what she did she did to bring peace to the Mojave, but instead she has tortured and killed for the Senator's personal benefit. It was never about peace. She had been lied to, and it pissed her off just how much she had bought into the lie. It was agreed that Noble Squad would abandon its mission and make its way back to California, to testify to the Senate exactly what they were doing in the Mojave and for who and why. Jennifer was okay with the thought that doing so might send them to prison for the rest of her life, as was Rodriguez and Spears. If it meant that the Senator and Kodiak would be joining them then that was okay. Singer was not so ready to fall on his sword, but if he wanted to desert then there was nobody sitting at that table who would stop him. Unfortunately, Kodiak had somehow caught wind of their intentions and lured them into a trap. He had convinced the higher-ups in the military that Noble was a rogue outfit; an unauthorised hit squad, even though technically that was true. The team of Rangers that was assigned to deal with them had orders to kill them, with no questions asked and no nonsense about taking them in alive. In hindsight, Jennifer thought it rather ironic that the hit squad would eventually fall victim to another hit squad. Noble was pursued and then cornered in the ruins of a steel mill, where they were forced to make their last stand. Rodriguez was the first to meet her end, with a bullet to the head courtesy of a Ranger's lever-action rifle. Captain Spears was the next to follow, but not before he killed the man that killed him. Jennifer took a round in the shoulder, and as she was backed into a corner waiting for the end to come for her, an explosion rocked the steel mill. She did not know what happened after that, but the next thing she knew she was dragging herself out of a drain pipe with a hole in her shoulder. Her squad mates--her friends--were all dead, as were Kodiak and the Ranger hit squad that was sent to kill them. So much death and pain, and all so a politician could get ahead. Jennifer made a vow that night: if she survived on the way back home, then Senator Eileen Midthunder was a dead woman. No more nonsense about testifying, or turning in evidence that died with Spears. This was going to end in blood. Personality Appearance Despite the violence inherent in the life she leads Jennifer Chou is still a very attractive, if a little strong-featured, young woman in her mid-to-late twenties. Jennifer is an Asian woman of moderate height, with light brown coloured eyes and an oval face. A couple of small scars mar her otherwise flawless face; she has one above her lip, and another above her left eyebrow. Her body has been described as "small and muscular," and "compact and strong," her relatively slight frame is more like that of an athlete. Several scars adorn her body; old gunshot and knife wounds, and an old burn scar here and there, too. They were the marks of an active life as a former soldier who now wandered the wastes as a gun for hire. Jennifer did little to hide them (unless she is clad in her armour that is) but at the same time does not invite too much conversation as to where they came from. While she does own more than one outfit, at least when she stays in one place long enough to own a large enough wardrobe, the clothes she tends to wear while in the field includes a pair of faded, dark jeans and a greyish-brown button-up shirt, as well as a thin, dark green jacket, as well as a pair of dark worker's boots and black reinforced gloves. She carries around with her a pair of mirrored aviator glasses as well. Oddly, Jennifer also enjoys wearing make-up, even when out in the wasteland. Equipment Unlike many of the thugs that hire themselves out when violence is called for, that mostly do their job with whatever their caps and sticky fingers can scrounge up, Jennifer's equipment is a little more...exotic. That is not to say that Jennifer is sorely under equipped for the career she has chosen. In fact quite the opposite. The pre-war suit of combat armour she wears over her clothing is high-tech and made from complex polymers and ceramics, as well as ultralight materials which leaves Jennifer mobile enough to move quickly, yet still very well protected. For those environments where poisonous gasses or other toxins are present in the air, Jennifer wears a high-tech rebreather mask to protect herself. This was particularly useful for her during one job, where she was hired to retrieve a sample of a hallucinogenic chemical from a laboratory that was flooded with the stuff. The rebreather saved her life, not to mention her sanity as the hallucinogen had driven a rival team of mercenaries to a homicidal rage. Jennifer also carries with her an AER-9 Laser Rifle as her primary weapon, captured from a Brotherhood soldier and modified for automatic fire. While she does recognise that the microfusion cells required to power the weapon are both rare and extremely expensive, she also knows what an AER-9 is capable of in the right hands, having seen plenty of them in action in her battles against the Brotherhood. A weapon that has been known to vapourise a human being was very useful against tougher nuts to crack in her opinion, nuts such as people wearing power armour. That alone was more than worth the high expense in maintaining the rifle in Jennifer's eyes. For a backup weapon, Jennifer goes for a more old school approach toward guns in the Colt 6520 autoloader. The 10mm handgun has proven to be a highly durable and efficient weapon, one that is resistant to the desert conditions of the post-nuclear wastelands which make up much of the southwestern former United States. The simple design also allows Jennifer to easily maintain the weapon with even the most basic of equipment. Although she is well armed, arguably the most important item in her possession is the camera she uses to take photographs of the bodies of those bounties she has come to collect on. She decided very early on in her career as a bounty hunter that carting corpses around the wasteland or cutting pieces off of them as proof of death was a grisly business, and so she uses the photographs as an alternative in order to satisfy the people paying out the bounty. There has been times, however, when someone decides they are not satisfied with pictures and wanted something more convincing and uses that as an excuse not to pay Jennifer what was owed. But, in the end, Jennifer Chou always got paid. Quotes By About Category:Mercenaries